Friday, 29 July 2011

The Weekly Round-up w/e 29/7/11

Would you look at us, another weekly round-up only a week after the last one, we're getting good at this. We've got various things on offer to you this week for your reading pleasure. Before we move on, just a quick reminder that Mark Stevenson's 'An Optimist's Tour of the Future' talk fast approaching so make sure you've made a note in your diary, second Wednesday of the month as always. Have a look over there to the right of the page for further details. Here's what you've been waiting for:A body fit for a freaky-big brain.
Human biology reorganized itself to cope with the punishing burden of
our oversize thinking parts. That shift completely reshaped who we are. The
evolution of generosity. The human impulse to be kind to unknown
individuals is not the biological aberation it might seem. This new model suggests we develop this kindness towards people because there’s a good chance we’ll meet them again.What’s it like being a bat? Where did my consciousness come from?Michael Specter on the Danger of Science denialI
think we’ve all had moments when we’ve had to tell ourselves to stop
reading the comment threads at the bottom of online news stories and
blogs as well the torrent of abuse that swarms around twitter. Twitter
is always angry about something. Tim Adams in the Observer talks about how the internet created an age of rage.Video games designer Jason Rohrer has designed a video game that would turn into a religion.
Contained on a USB stick is the only copy of the game called ‘Chain
World’ and the person in possession of it is God. Some believe it has
revealed several things about games, religion and human behaviour.Particle Physics: Brilliant. Birmingham Skeptics’ pin-up Patrick Redmond talks to phyicisist Steve Goldfarb who works at the Atlas Experiment, the largest accelerator at the Large Hadron Collider.There’s
been some sad news for those, like myself, who studied or intend to
study at the Open University. Courses that previously cost £700 per
year will, from 2012, increase to £2500 per year. Fellow OU alumni Kash
Farooq charts the end of the Open University as we know it.OK Climate skeptics, here’s the raw data you wanted. Anyone can now view the data that was at the centre of last year’s ‘climategate’ scandal.Mathematician
Marcus De Sautoy says there’s a ‘geek chic’ about maths now, that’s not
one of his chat up lines by the way, it’s what he says in this interview about maths finding an audience outside of Open University circles.Planet
of the Apes is going to come true, well, you’d think it was judging by
the media response to a report by the Academy of Medical Sciences. Neuroskeptic gives a more realistic portrayal of this report.

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Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub meet on the second Wednesday of the month for a speaker. We will often meet at other times too for extra talks, socials and events. Follow our social media or go to our .org site to make sure you know what's happening.